Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Russia: liberal weekly sold

Updating a previous posting, Leonid Nevzlin, associate of jailed Yukos oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has sold Moskovskiye Novosti (Moscow News) to a Ukranian businessman, Vadym Rabynovych. Nevzlin, exiled in Israel, originally threatened to sell the paper after a spat with the editor-in-chief. The weekly, which is printed in Russian and English, was founded in 1930 by Josef Stalin and has most recently been a voice of opposition to the Putin administration. Rabynovych plans on hiring a "famous man" as new editor-in-chief and maintaining the paper's respected status.